Daily Newsie

I thank Stacie over at Buried the Lead for asking to see my tattoos, because it allows me to squeeze another post out of yesterday’s topic. (NaBloPoMo is harder than I thought, so this new development pleases me.) Without further ado, I give you — in chronological order — my ink:

This was my very first tattoo, done in March 2003. My father and I went together to get these, and he has a matching one over his heart (that, obviously, doesn’t say “Mama”). It bothers me a little because the ribbon doesn’t match up like it should, but it’s on my back so I don’t spend a lot of time looking at it. Gray is the ribbon color for brain cancer awareness, which is why there isn’t any color in it.

This was done on the spur of the moment in June 2004. I had just graduated with a degree in journalism and scored my first “real” reporting job, so the Best Friend and I drove to a nearby town and celebrated by getting my right ankle tattooed with a quill and inkwell. I saw a much cooler one on a blog the other day, but I try not to sweat it because, well, it’s rather permanent. I may get the quill colored in one of these days.

Courtney knows all about this one, since she sat next to me and held my hand while it was being done. In early summer 2005, a group of us from the Snooze went to a local tattoo parlor because a colleague and I wanted to get tattoos. This one was another split-second decision, but it turned out beautifully. It’s over my heart and has actually gotten more gorgeous as the years went by.

My best friend and I have always considered ourselves two pieces of the same puzzle, so in December 2005 we got matching tattoos to seal the deal. My piece is dark blue and hers is pink. We left the other sides open to show that we will “fit” with other people as life goes on, but we’ll always fit best with each other. This one is on my right hip and, like the others, has faded nicely.

It seems weird that two and a half years went by with no tattoos, but maybe I was busy. At any rate, in early 2008 I started wondering what to get my father for Father’s Day. My dad is pretty much the greatest person alive, so I wanted it to be something to show him how much I love him. I decided to get a tattoo in honor of him, but couldn’t figure out what I wanted it to look like until I heard this song by James Taylor, an artist my dad and I have always loved …

… and so I came away with this:

I’m sorry I don’t have a better picture of it — here it’s slathered with Vaseline and oozing ink — but I’m too lazy to get out the camera. After this picture was taken he added an ellipsis trailing from “daddy” to the heart to even it out, and it looks wonderful. I got it on my left leg because, believe it or not, I used to be a cross-country runner and so was my dad.

That’s all, folks! The Husband and I are already plotting my next body art move, so stay tuned for more details.